Barton apologises to Hamann for comments

On-loan Marseille midfielder Joey Barton has apologised to Dietmar Hamann for comments he made about the former Germany international on Twitter.

Barton, who played alongside Hamann for a brief period when both players were at Manchester City, got involved in the war of words on Monday night - hurling a series of insults that he has since apologised for.

"On Monday evening tweets exchanged between Dietmar Hamann and I went beyond the boundaries of banter, opinion and common sense," Barton said.

"I accept that my comments were offensive, untrue and related to matters of a personal nature, of which I had no knowledge.

"I have apologised to Dietmar personally ... I appreciate my comments have caused Dietmar and his family some distress and I fully regret that."

Barton added that both players had "agreed to draw a line under the unfortunate exchange".